Friday, October 06, 2006

Safe and Easy Way to Boost Windows Performance (con' td)

Lets pick up from where we last left off. In my previous post, I outlined how to use Acelogix Tweak N' Tune's to boost Windows performance. I explained the tweaks on the Windows Tweak tab. Today, I will discuss the tweaks on Security Tweaks.

Security Tweak

Control Panel

Add/Remove Program's Restrictions (All Users): the control panel is the heart of the Windows operating system. Ideally, a computer should have at least two accounts. The first account should have administrator privileges while the second is a limited account. The limited account should be used for day to day functions, such as: creating documents and checking e-mail messages. The limited account adds an additional layer of protection because it can not install or remove programs, especially important when surfing on the Internet to avoid so-called "drive-by installations." Unfortunately, this is not convenient, especially for shared computers. As an alternative, you can omit control panel applets - and thus prevent accidental installation or removal - and use multiple administer accounts. I recommend unchecking the following items:(1) Enable Add/Remove Program applet, (2) Add a program from CD or Floppy option, (3) Add programs from you network option, (4) Click here for support information hyperlink for install program.

Miscellaneous

Prevent Accidental Batch File Execution: By default, double clicking a .bat file will execute it. Using this tweak, double clicking will only open the file for editing. This tweak is great for those of us who double click everything without thinking about it.

System

Disable User Tracking: This is a nice tweak for those who use a shared computer.

Make USB Memory Devices Read-Only: No one can deny the usefulness of USB memory devices, such as jump drives and external hard drives. But there is also a security risk as well. Files, saved on a hard drive, could easily be copied on to a jump drive with no one the wiser. Enable this tweak to block the download of files from the hard drive to a USB device.